The present invention relates to wireless communication systems and, more particularly, to a system and method for providing temporary wireless services on a pay per use basis over a wireless local area network.
In an increasingly mobile society, telecommunications service providers are offering many different types of telecommunication services to their customers. With the increasing popularity of wireless communication systems such as wireless telephone systems, wireless personal communication systems, and related paging systems, such services allow users of wireless communication devices (e.g. mobile telephones, mobile data devices, personal digital assistants (PDA) or paging receivers) to manage their availability for communication. Such services are generally provided to users on a subscription basis, and therefore these users are often referred to as subscribers.
Such wireless service subscriptions typically require a user to commit to a predetermined length of service such as a year or more. Early termination usually involves a penalty levied by the service provider to the user. In addition, many wireless service providers are geographically limited in that if a subscriber uses their particular wireless device outside the local service area, additional fees such as roaming and connection charges may apply to the use of that user's wireless device. Even within a user's local service area, many wireless service providers do not provide adequate coverage especially within enclosed structures such as within office buildings and other similar structures. Accordingly, these and other shortcomings make conventional wireless services less than desirable in many instances.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a system and method for providing temporary wireless services to a user on a pay per use basis without the limitations of conventional wireless services as discussed above.